A terminal block, of the type found in telephone systems, generally includes a hollow, prismatically-shaped insulative module having an open bottom. The module is designed to overlay at least a pair of insulation displacement terminals (i.e., contacts) extending out from a mounting board into the open bottom of the module. The module has at least one opening therethrough to allow each of a pair of wires to be received in the module for connection to a separate one of the insulation displacement terminals. A spacer is situated within the module to guide each wire to its corresponding insulation displacement terminal and to hold each wire tight against the terminal for electrical contact therewith when the module is secured against the mounting board.
As described in co-pending U.S. patent application Serial No. 08/102,178, filed Aug. 4, 1993, in the names of P. F. Lilienthal et at., and assigned to AT&T (herein incorporated by reference), an advantage is obtained by filling the module with a silicone resin gel. The gel serves to encapsulate the insulation displacement terminals when the module is placed thereover, while permitting each wire to make an electrical connection with its corresponding terminal. Advantageously, the gel isolates the insulation displacement terminals from external elements (i.e., moisture) and from environmental erosion.
At the present time, modules of the type described above are fabricated by first molding the module from an insulative material such as polycarbonate or the like. Thereafter, the module is oriented upside down with its open bottom now facing up so that the module can be filled with gel. To prevent the gel from leaking out through the opening(s) in the module prior to curing, the openings must be sealed. In the past, each opening was sealed by way of a rubber seal held against the module via a spring clamp. After the gel was admitted into the module and then cured, the spring clamp and seal were removed to allow access to the opening. The process of clamping and unclamping the rubber seals has been found to be awkward and time consuming.
In U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/135,645, tilted on Oct. 14, 1993, in the names of P. F. Lilienthal et al., and assigned to AT&T (herein incorporated by reference), a fixture is described for simultaneously sealing and fixturing a module of the type described above to facilitate filling the module with gel. The fixture disclosed in the Lilienthal et al. '645 application. comprises an elongated, generally U-shaped channel having a pair of spaced-apart, resilient walls, each integral with, and rising upward from, a separate one of the ends of a base member. Each of a plurality of resilient seal members protrudes outward from a separate one of the walls and base member for receipt in a separate one of the module openings to seal the openings when the module is seated within the channel so as to be held between the channel walls. While the fixture disclosed in the Lilienthal et al. '645 application eliminates much of the awkwardness incurred with the prior art spring clamps, the need to place modules in, and remove such modules from, the fixture does not represent an optimal solution to the problem of sealing the module openings.
Thus, there is a need for a technique for sealing each opening in a module in an efficient manner.